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Massively's Elder Scrolls Online launch diary: Day five - The (early) verdict
Is it Friday already? Huh. This launch week has gone by fast, which I guess is a good sign for ZeniMax since time flies when you're having fun. My fifth day in Elder Scrolls Online was a bit more subdued than the previous four. I'm currently floating around Glenumbra between levels 12 and 13, waiting on my healer and tanker friends to catch up so that we can run Spindleclutch, also known as ESO's first proper Daggerfall Covenant PvE dungeon. There are numerous public crypts available for exploration and pillage prior, but Spindleclutch is the first big-boy boss-based four-man. But I didn't feel like pugging it last night, so instead I started crafting.
Final Fantasy XIV shows off crafting and gathering improvements for 2.2
Final Fantasy XIV's second major patch is bringing plenty of things for people to fight and kill. But what about players who would rather gather and craft? They haven't been forgotten in the slightest. The latest development blog shows off what the Disciples of the Hand and Disciples of the Land are getting up to, starting with the inclusion of new crafting stations for housing. Crafters below level 40 can earn bonus CP from these stations, making it that much easier to produce high-quality items as you level. A plethora of new crafting recipes have also been added, including new crafting books that the most experienced crafters will be able to decipher and use. New main-hand tools will also be available in exchange for crafted goods and gathered materials, while gatherers will have access to new resources. Fishers aren't left out, either -- there's new sea life to be caught, fish so rare and unexpected that they were thought to be only legend. So if you don't want to start the next patch off with some fighting, you can take the time and just craft your days away.
Norrathian Notebook: EQN Landmark alpha 101
You know you've got it bad when you don't want to leave a game long enough to write about it! But that's exactly how this last week has been for me and EverQuest Next Landmark. Don't get me wrong; it's an awesome change to be so eager to play that you willingly stare at a login queue (getting to listen to Jeremy Soule's music while you do is definitely a bonus!) and even spend hours gathering materials, knowing that it will all be wiped. It's just been a long while since that has happened to me. Luckily, the alpha has had downtimes, allowing me some sleep and a chance to whip this first impressions piece and quick-start guide up for you. Even with many of the core features from the game still missing, this alpha shows you straight off that EQN Landmark truly is a whole different game. The term innovative is not just a catchphrase here; it's a summary. As such, jumping in can leave eager players a bit overwhelmed or frustrated. So this here's a quick introduction course with hints and tips to get you started.
My first two hours in EQN Landmark
Sony Online Entertainment has an eventual winner on its hands with EverQuest Next: Landmark. I know, I know. You've been burned by SOE in the past. Maybe you're still angry about the NGE, or maybe you're a Vanguard lifer and the wound is still fresh. Maybe you're even one of those goofballs who mistakenly thinks that internet spaceships plus PvP drama equals the only relevant MMO. Whatever your bias, you should be excited for what Landmark represents if you're a sandbox fan.
The Tattered Notebook Extra: EQ Next Landmark livestream talks tools, demonstrates mining
Any time you mention EverQuest Next Landmark, you get a score of people saying that they just don't quite get it. To help alleviate that, devs hosted another EQN Landmark livestream and dished up more details about the upcoming sandbox and treated viewers to their first look at actual mining gameplay footage. While a large part of the stream focused on harvesting and mining, that was not the only topic touched upon. Senior Producer Terry Michaels teamed up with Producer Emily "Domino" Taylor and Community Manager Colette "Dexella" Murphy to answer various questions and share information about naming, beta news for SOE Live 2013 attendees, and more. If you missed the stream, we've compiled some of the key points right here for you. And since seeing is believing, we've got the entire livestream as well!
Upcoming EverQuest Next Landmark livestream will discuss harvesting
You've asked for more details about EverQuest Next Landmark, and now you're getting them... tomorrow, that is. On Wednesday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. EST, devs will be giving you the scoop on gathering in the next Landmark livestream. Senior Producer Terry Michaels, Producer Emily "Domino" Taylor, and Community Manager Colette "Dexella" Murphy will be showing off even more in-game building while discussing other features and revealing new concept art. Currently on the table are the topics of harvesting and mining as well as character naming, but if you hop in the official Twitch channel, you just might get your own questions answered as well!
EQ Next Landmark's first dev highlights harvesting, inventory
With EverQuest Next Landmark's focus on building, it's not surprising that the first dev diary would focus on gathering those materials needed for building up the world. In the video diary, Senior Producer Terry Michaels and Creative Director Jeff Butler reveal that over 50 different resources have already been defined in the game, such as gems, wood, and metals. Each resource type has five tiers; the higher the tier, the deeper in the world it will be found. Players will harvest these metals, gems, and wood to make better tools that will in turn harvest better resources. But resources are not the only thing players can find while exploring -- crafting recipes and objects that players can keep or break down into materials will also be discovered throughout Landmark. And of course, with players gathering so much, there needs to be a place to put it all. Butler and Michaels also talked about the three types of inventory space in game (personal, claim, and a vault) and noted that players can access anything put in a vault from any other vault, whereas items stored in chests at their claim are only accessible at the claim. All three inventories, however, can be expanded through play. You can check the full video clip after the cut.
New Repopulation dev blog gets down and dirty with harvesting details
You may remember that earlier this month, the folks behind upcoming sci-fi sandbox The Repopulation released a dev-blog that detailed part of the game's resource-gathering system which involved the ever-so-charming extraction of precious resources from your enemies' still-warm corpses. Thanks to the game's newest dev blog, we're now able to get some insight on the other half of the resource-gathering experience: harvesting. While extraction involves pilfering goodies from dead baddies, harvesting is the more uh... humane method of gathering resources from nodes such as ore deposits, trees, and so forth. Harvesting resources from a single node works in the same way as extracting resources from a corpse does, but harvestable resources are also available from rarely occurring resource clusters. These clusters "contain a larger stash of a single resource and [have] a better chance of yielding higher quality results." Up to four players can place a harvester at any given cluster, which will run dry after 2-4 hours, at which point the players can return to the cluster and pick up their share of the goods. This system, the diary mentions, encourages players to gather in groups or share the wealth with their hired help. If you can't wait to get your hands dirty and rob nature of her delicious bounty, you can find out all the details over at the game's official site.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV beta phase 1 and 2 - gathering
We all like to stop and smell the roses. And then we like to pluck those roses, bring them home, and melt them into component enzymes that will allow us access to a temporary attack power buff. Final Fantasy XIV is beautiful, sure, but you need that attack power bonus. If it isn't obvious, this week's stop on my whirlwind beta tour is the fine art of grabbing items from the landscape and turning them into crafting fodder. Final Fantasy XIV had quite an interesting gathering system at launch, but it also had some pretty serious problems, and so the relaunch had to completely revamp the system while retaining the soul of the original version. No pressure. Not a whole lot changed in terms of gathering between my time in San Francisco and my time in the beta, but I did have a great deal more time to try out the gathering system. So let's take a walk on the self-sufficient side.
The Repopulation adds gore, stampedes, turrets, and more
The Repopulation's end-of-the-month progress report is here, and judging by the sheer length of the thing, April was one for the books. The new update takes a high-level view of development and it states that since the majority of The Repopulation's features are complete, the dev team is now focusing on content creation and an enjoyable new player experience. Highlights from April's patch cycle include the new harvester system, player turrets, AI tweaks, stampedes, and gore options. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg, so be sure and read the full post for all the details. [Thanks J.C.!]
The Art of Wushu: Making silver through harvesting
I got a lot of backlash over the last installment of The Art of Wushu. While the issues over pay-to-win are understandable, an overwhelming number of you seemed to disbelieve the amount of silver I was able to produce daily. Some of you protested my 1D/daily figure (which is on the high side), while others questioned whether I could make even 500L per day. My email was flooded with people asking me to share some of my secrets. I was going to talk about movement and parkour this time, but because you guys asked, you'll get an answer. "How do I make money in Age of Wushu," you ask? Let's cover the easy ways to make money. These are methods that literally any player, regardless of subscription status or level, can take advantage of. This time we're going to cover harvesting -- what sells and what doesn't. Let's get started.
Pathfinder dev blog rolls up its sleeves and digs into crafting
If you've been looking forward to an involved crafting system, Pathfinder Online is happy to oblige. In the most recent dev blog, the game's proposed system is laid out in great detail, from gathering the resources to the final product. In a nutshell, gear (the majority of which will be player-crafted) will be the final result of many steps involving different skill sets, with the creator's skill rating at each step contributing to the final quality rating. Each step -- harvesting or salvaging, refining, crafting, and enchanting -- can only achieve a quality rating equal to the level of either the starting materials or the creator's skill, whichever is lower. The blog also gives players an update on how Kickstarter rewards will be disseminated. For full details on both this and the entire crafting process, check out the the full blog.
Darkfall shows off its mad crafting skills
When Darkfall eventually relaunches as Unholy Wars, it's bringing with it a robust crafting system that apparently deserves a preview video set to a stirring theme. The video throws out plenty of tantalizing numbers to demonstrate Darkfall's crafting diversity: 98 different harvestable materials, 17 crafting skills, 12 crafting masteries, 75 unique crafted materials, 410 unique crafting recipes, and 626 unique craftable items. And it ends with a player casually tossing out a fully crafted boat from his inventory for him and his friends to sail. Give the video a look after the jump and let us know: How important is crafting to you in a PvP-centric MMO?
The Art of Wushu: Gathering and crafting
Life skills are the central point of Age of Wushu's player economy. All useful equipment, food, and most of the useful consumables are only available through crafting, and equipment requires lengthy production chains and an injection of tradable silver in order to make it effective. This process is fairly daunting to a new player, and even experienced players go for a long time without taking advantage of the many advantages present from trade and crafting. In Age of Wushu, life skills represent a character's day job. You'll go to work gathering materials to sell or to craft into goods to sell, and then use the money from those sales to purchase things other people make and food to sustain yourself. Because we have a limited amount of space, this column will focus on production skills and production chains so that you can make the best choice about which type of goods you want to craft.
Wings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion
It happens. No matter how much you enjoy Aion, there just comes a time when you can't do marathon gaming sessions, with snacks stockpiled next to you and no regard for the clock. Sometimes life demands attention, and you just can't really delve in and lose yourself for untold hours on end. It could be flooding or house fires (been there, done that), a change in employment, a move, impending term papers, or a change in your household. Regardless the reason, any number of things -- from the mundane to the truly unbelievable -- can occur and prevent solid chunks of gaming time. Such has been my case over the past couple of months. Sadly, real life intervened in both some wonderful and some tragic ways that have prevented me from spending any length of time in-game at one sitting. And even when I did get in, I'd feel so paralyzed by how much I need to do that I'd end up doing nothing. So what's a Daeva to do? Well, just because you or I cannot spend hours at a time in Atreia doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it! Even if you find yourself temporarily unable to spend quantity time in Aion, you can still indulge in quality time; there are plenty of smaller tasks that move you toward your goals without requiring inordinate amounts of time to actually accomplish. Today, Wings Over Atreia explores some of those bite-sized bits of Aion that can be enjoyed when only quick bursts of gaming time are available.
Get your alts' farms started right at 85
Farming isn't just for maximum level characters. In fact, you can start a 4-plot farm up with your 85 toons fairly quickly, which can accelerate the time it takes your main to level cooking with all those vegetables! I'm able to cook 5 batches of feasts -- that's 25 skill points! -- in just 2 harvests with 5 alts working alongside my main. Your alt will need to run past 85-86 level mobs to get started farming. I'm not sure if you can summon a lower level toon to Pandaria, but Farmer Yoon's quests to start up your farm are level 85 and above, so your toon will need to be at least 85. First, your alt will have to get to Pandaria through your faction's quest. You'll need to complete the vehicle quest, whether that's shooting Alliance troops from a turret or shooting Horde troops from a helicopter. Then, you should be able to drop to the ground via a rope and continue the rest of the way to Halfhill on mounted foot.
Crafting in The Repopulation unveiled as a viable playstyle
Few gaming features can claim such vastly different implementations as crafting. To the disappointment of dedicated MMO crafters, few games offer in-depth systems. Even worse, when trade skill systems are present, they are often near pointless as mass-produced generic goods or superior loot drops destroy the market. Not so for The Repopulation -- Above and Beyond Technologies just unveiled details of the game's in-depth crafting system mentioned in the End of May report. First and foremost, crafting will be a primary game type; crafters can succeed in their trade without combat. The system will also be very in-depth, involving tools and commanding players' attention in order to succeed. One of the more unique features is the crafting board: Instead of crafters tossing their wares into an auction house, customers post their order, including specifications and price, for crafters to fill. Also, due to the grade system, recipes gathered on the first day will still be valuable years later. Although not unique, harvesting is another interesting feature as necessary ingredients can be gained by manually gathering nodes, placing a structure, or extracting from kills. For more information, check out the full announcement. [Source: Above and Beyond Technologies press release]
Exclusive Interview: Going global with Fallen Earth's PvP
Two of the biggest cornerstones of Fallen Earth have always been crafting and PvP, and its these cornerstones that GamersFirst is enriching come patch 2.4. The patch, called Global Territory Control, is taking these elements and firing them up in ways that any PvPer or crafter should find exciting. We hopped on the phone with Associate Producer Asa Reed, Director of Operations Joe Willmon, and Senior Game Designer Marie Croall to talk about why 2.4 will be the patch that will change the wasteland forever -- and why you should anticipate it, whether you're a crafter or a player-killer.%Gallery-155670%
Xsyon celebrates its first year of Prelude
One year and counting. Crack open the waterskin and raise a toast to Xsyon: Today the post-apocalyptic sandbox by Notorious Games celebrates its first full year of launch. Well, the first year of the official launch of Prelude, a limited first release of the virtual world. Come to think of it, even that date seems a bit nebulous as the pre-order players in the first phase of Year Zero (basically beta) actually had their most significant change on March 11th, 2011 when the second phase launched and totems were introduced. Semantics aside, Xsyon has come a long way from that official first day. Unlike many games where gameplay is neatly laid out, this indie title gives players only the canvas and a few tools before setting them loose to fashion their world. As the year continued, additional tools were provided and the world became more vibrant and dynamic. Initially barren without any critters (other than your surviving neighbors) to hunt, the world is now populated with large creatures that roam the land, threatening the lives of travelers and hunters alike. Even the lay of the land itself is different as players manipulate and alter the terrain, build settlements, and plant trees. Communities are forming; groups are supporting and even entertaining each other. Civilization is slowly rebuilding. And that's only the beginning.
Leaderboard: Mining vs. woodcutting
Oh, don't you scoff at today's topic. I can hear you, harrumphing with seeming impatience at what you consider to be activities beneath your stature. Perhaps the idea of putting in an honest day's hard work in an MMO is abhorrent to you -- after all, that's why you have servants, right? But there are those of us who know the value of soil, stone, and wood. So today we turn our gaze away from manslaughter and onto gathering natural resources. In most MMOs, two harvesting professions come almost standard with any title: mining and woodcutting (or, if you're feeling Monty Pythonish, lumberjacking). Which is more noble and more worthwhile to pursue? Mining has the appeal of precious metals and the near-universal utility of these resources in a wide range of crafting recipes, but one must not underestimate how essential wood is. After all, can you imagine swords without hilts, ships without hulls, or campfires that had to resort to burning dung every night in lieu of a better fuel source? Inconceivable! Get your hands dirty today and vote on the better career path for the burly outdoorsman or woman!
